In general, when information of a product is provided by an introduction of merchandise and by product catalogs in shopping services, specification information that includes contents of the product such as functions and performances of the product is provided. The specification information represents details of types of components and processing speeds of the product by using letters and numbers. Therefore, if a user does not have technical knowledge on the product in the shopping service, it is difficult for the user to properly understand advantages of the product by referring to the specification information. Furthermore, when the user replaces the product (possessed product) with another product, it is difficult for the user to compare the possessed product with another product by referring to the specification information of the other product unless the user understands the content in detail of the specification information of the product. Accordingly, the user does not readily understand improvements and differences of the other product based solely on the specification information of the other product which is provided. This makes it difficult for product providers to improve appealing aspects or advantages of the other product. As disclosed by examples of the prior art, Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 2002-189852 and Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 2003-022395, there is a technique for simultaneously displaying the information of the possessed product of the user and the information of another product as a comparison target product of the possessed product. According to this technique, the information of the possessed product of the user and the information of the comparison target product are represented in items of the functions and performances of each of the products. This enables the user to compare the products by referring to the information of each of the products.
The above-described technique simply presents a list of the information of the comparison target product and the information of the possessed product. Therefore, for example, when the information of an electronic apparatus with various functions and performances such as a personal computer and a mobile phone is provided, the number of items of the functions and performances on the list is increased. Accordingly, when the user compares the possessed product with the comparison target product, it is difficult for the user to decide which item on the list to use for the comparison. As a result, since the user does not easily understand the improvements and differences of the comparison target product as compared to the possessed product, it is difficult for the user to properly observe or identify any improvements or advantages of the comparison product.